Teaching Kids How to Get into the Pool: Mastery

You’ve been working for a while on teaching your kids to get into the pool. If they’re comfortable with what you’ve taught so far, you’re ready for the last step in the process of teaching this skill.

The Final Stage of Teaching Kids to Get into the Pool

Once your child feels very comfortable in the water, he’s ready to get into the pool feet-first all by himself. In this swimming lesson, ease into having him move himself from a seated position on the edge of the pool into your waiting arms. Start by standing close enough that he can reach out and touch you, but make sure he’s the one reaching for you, not the other way around.

Gradually move back so that you’re standing a foot or more from the edge of the pool and your child has to lean forward and scoot into the pool to reach you. Once he’s able to stabilize himself in the pool by holding onto the edge, have him lower himself into the water and hold onto the edge while you’re standing nearby.

Now you’ve covered everything your kids need to know about this swimming skill. Keep practicing to reinforce the skill, and get ready to move on to teaching your kids to get a feel for the water.

January 14, 2011January 9, 2011

Time to Play! Getting into the Pool

Kids learn by playing. The more you can make learning to swim fun for your kids, the more they’ll like it, the quicker they’ll learn, and the more fun you’ll have teaching them. You can use toys your kids are familiar with to make learning to get into the pool easier.

Play with boats in the bathtub. Show your kids video of a boat easing down the boat ramp into the water. (Make sure you check it out first. This isn’t a good time for bloopers.) After your kids have practiced getting into the pool, make a game out of pretending to be a boat going down a ramp into the water.

January 13, 2011January 9, 2011

Teaching Kids How to Get into the Pool: Stage 2

As your kids gains confidence in the water and with the feel of the water, you can use a lighter touch to teach them how to get into the pool.

If you haven’t already, read Teaching Kids How to Get into the Pool: Stage 1. Kids need to have learned how to get into the pool with lots of support before you start reducing the amount of support you give them.

Have your child sit on the edge of the pool. (This should sound familiar.) Sit next to him. Keeping one hand on your child to make sure he’s secure, lower yourself into the water.

Turn to face him, but instead of moving so that your body is touching him, reach your arms out to pick him up and bring him to you. Hold him so that less of his body is touching yours.

Start using his imaginative and problem-solving skills to explore this skill. Ask him questions. How many different ways are there to get into the pool? Are some of them safer than others? Why? Which are the best ways?

If some of his ideas aren’t safe, point out why. Try his other ideas with him.

January 12, 2011January 14, 2011

5 Tips for Dealing with Your Kids’ Fear of the Water

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, you might run into trouble with fear of the water. Kids without experience in the water tend to develop a fear of the water as they get older. Most three- and four-year-olds don’t have an entrenched fear of the water. Seven- and eight-year-olds without swimming experience often do. What should you do if your kids are afraid of the water?

How to Deal with Fear of the Water When You Teach Kids to Swim

It’s not unusual for kids to be afraid of the water when they start swimming lessons. You can’t start teaching any swimming skills until the kids are comfortable with the idea of going in the water. These tips will help you up their comfort level and get them past their fear.

Acknowledge that this fear is reasonable.

Being careful around the water is always smart, but before you can swim, that caution comes from a constant awareness of the possibility of drowning. Kids learn about that possibility in a variety of ways. They remember slips in the bathtub. They swallow water the wrong way and cough when they’re learning to drink out of a cup. They see characters in cartoons struggling before going under permanently. They listen to older kids.

Be patient.

If your child is afraid of the water, your best tool is patience. You might already know where his fear originated or how it developed. If you don’t, probe gently for an answer. It’s possible that his fear stems from a misconception that you can quickly correct.

Don’t force it.

If your child becomes upset or doesn’t want to talk about his fear, don’t force him. Instead, start very slowly to work on getting him comfortable with the water before trying to get into the water.

Provide examples.

Point out other kids playing in the water and let your child watch without pressuring him to get in. Point out the ways that water is already a part of his life—from drinking, to taking a bath, to playing in the rain or running through the sprinklers.

Start small.

Have your child sit near the pool. Get your hands wet and gently stroke your child with your wet hands, spreading the water first on his arms and legs and then on his hair and face.

See if he’ll dip his fingers into the water with you next to him. Encourage him to dip just his feet, and then his legs, into the water while you stand in the pool in front of him.

Don’t force your child into the water. If he starts to become upset with something you’re trying, stop and go back to an activity he is comfortable with, even if it’s just taking a sip of water. Be supportive and patient, and work to keep your own expectations under control. If your child is still as afraid as ever after a few weeks of gently easing him into contact with the water, consider taking a break from trying for a while. If he remains very afraid after weeks of trying and a break, consider having him work through the fear with a child psychologist.

If your child is too afraid of the water to take a bath, he’s not ready to learn to swim. Try having him sit in an empty tub and play with toys while you sit with him, either in the tub or just outside the tub. When he becomes comfortable with that, offer him a warm glass of water or a bucket that he can pour into the tub himself when he feels like it. Over the course of several weeks, go through the exercise every day, gradually moving to adding increasing amounts of water from the faucet. Only after your child is completely comfortable in the bath should you consider trying to start to teach him to swim.